A day after, Greater Noida farmers oppose settlement deal

A day after Greater Noida administration and farmers of Patwari village reached a consensus on the land acquisition issue, farmers from about 20 nearby villages today termed the settlement a "conspiracy" and demanded that the enhanced compensation agreed upon be doubled.

A day after Greater Noida administration and farmers of Patwari village reached a consensus on the land acquisition issue, farmers from about 20 nearby villages on Sunday termed the settlement a "conspiracy" and demanded that the enhanced compensation agreed upon be doubled.

The farmers organised a meeting in Milak Lachhi village and passed a resolution to protest the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority's (GNIDA) compromise accord with 11 Patwari farmers.

"90% of Patwari farmers and 100% farmers from other villages whose lands fall in Patwari are against this disgraced conspiracy called compromise," said Ranvir Nagar, convener of the Gramin Panchayat Morcha (GPM) and pradhan (village head) of Sadullapur.

"The panchayat compiled the suggestions and demands of farmers and prepared a single charter of demands. It will be submitted to the authority officials and would be filed in the petition before the Allahabad high court as a counter affidavit," he said.

GNIDA chairman Mohinder Singh announced at a press conference on Saturday that the authority has agreed to pay an additional compensation of Rs 550 per square metre to the agitating farmers, over and above the Rs 850 per square metre paid so far.

However, farmers said the compensation is inadequate.

"An enhancement of Rs 550 is not at all acceptable to us. Therefore, we have collected the charter of demands...we demand a minimum enhancement of Rs 1,200 per square metre, over the Rs 850 paid earlier. The 11 farmers who signed the deal had been bribed by the authority," GPM member Dushyant Nagar said.

The authority also announced an increase in the size of the residential plots that farmers are to be given in lieu of their acquired land from the existing 6% to 8%.

"Their biggest demand was to exclude their abadi (inhabited) lands from acquisition, which we have agreed. We have decided to spare (regularise) all their abadi lands on as-is-where-is basis," Mohinder Singh said.